


I’m afraid of Captain fucking America

by TeamTonyStark



Category: Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: (mentioned) - Freeform, Adorable Peter Parker, Angst, Fluff, Gen, One Shot, Past Torture, Peter Parker Gets a Hug, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Podfic Welcome, Tony Stark Gets a Hug, Tony Stark Has Issues, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-18
Updated: 2018-08-18
Packaged: 2019-06-29 07:45:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15725043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeamTonyStark/pseuds/TeamTonyStark
Summary: Peter has been oddly quiet the whole day, and Tony could never have guessed what the reason was.Aka. What happens when I’m sleep deprived and still crying over infinity war.





	I’m afraid of Captain fucking America

**Author's Note:**

> Hi!   
> This is my first finished fan fiction ever! It’s very short, and maybe not the best, but, hey, cut me some slack, English is not my first laungage:)
> 
> If someone, for some reason, want to record this it’s fine if you link me, I’d love to hear it!
> 
> I love these two spela, so yeah, you are welcome to keep reading now, I’m not gonna keep you waiting<3

The question came out of nowhere. The kid had been weirdly quiet the whole day, several times looking like he’d been about to say something, but then changed his mind and aborted mission faster than Tony could blink. Tony had been holding most of the conversations, and sometimes the attempts at small talk felt as if discussing something with a brick wall would have been easier. The brick wall wouldn’t have a mind to judge him for his awkwardness with. Peter Parker had a mind. A troubled one, it seemed.

So, when the kid spoke up after at least 30 minutes of silence, and, out of all of the things that could be occupying his little brilliant mind, asked Tony, 

“Do you ever get scared?”

...well, let’s just settle with that Tony was startled. He definitely didn’t physically flinch and look at his protege with the most ridiculous expression. He didn’t.

Peter backtracked before Tony’s mind really had a chance at processing what the words meant, though. 

“I’m sorry, of course you don’t, you’re Iron Man,” 

Here he let out a nervous laugh that reminded Tony so much of himself when he asked Rhodey if he could come to his place during vacation at MIT, because his dad wouldn’t be home anyways, and if he was he’d be drunk and angry, and because his mum was on a business trip to another state, it made his skin crawl. 

“and of course you’re not scared, it’s just that I get scared sometimes which is stupid cause I’m, like, Spider-Man, but I just thought that maybe..” 

Tony spent about half a second admiring how Peter had managed to spit all of that out in one single breath. Like, Tony rambled all the time, jumping between conclusions faster than one could say “Captain Cock(FRIDAY’s nickname, not his. Not that he didn’t encourage it, but still)”, irritating pretty much everyone around him, but this was a whole new level. 

He sighed. What the hell? What was the kid thinking about him, that he was some sort of All Father? He looked the kid in the eye. This was gonna give him hives for years, and a whole bunch of grey hairs, but, yeah, no, this was not acceptable. He was not supposed to be some sort of ideal to look up to. He should rather be there to be an example of what happened if you did the mistakes Tony did during his life, how messed up you would end up. Not someone to want to be or some idiocy like that. 

“I’m afraid of a lot of things, a whole bunch of them stupid, everyone gets scared, even superheroes,”

He settled for finally, tone the most gentle he’d heard it in a long time, and the kid looked at him like he’d hung the stars in the sky. He forced a smile to form, and it felt fake and plastic on his own face, so he let it drop just as fast. Peter looked a little concerned, having stopped working with his project the moment Tony started speaking. 

“Can you... what are they?”

It was so quiet Tony barely heard it, and Peter looked so unsure and anxious he just wanted to hug the kid. Which he didn’t. ‘Cause that’d be awkward. Instead he tried to form a good answer to that, and he had to do that fast, since the teenager looked just about ready to start a breathless ramble of apologies. God, the kid was gonna kill him one of these days.

He tapped his fingers anxiously over his chest, a nervous habit he had kept up even after the reactor was taken away. 

“Well, I could stay here talking about them all week, but let’s settle for the more irrational ones. 

“Water, from torture in Afghanistan.   
Cold, from nearly freezing to death. Broken glass, Howard’s fault. Being handed things, it’s ridiculous, I once nearly had a panic attack over Barton handing me an apple. Caves and surgeries, also from Afghanistan. Fire, from the thing with the Mandarin. Space ever since New York...” 

He paused. Thinking about the time he spent in the hospital after nearly dying from the cold and injuries in Siberia. How he panicked when he finally got to go home and saw the shield laying around in his lab. How he had to excuse himself from a meeting with the Accords Council when they brought up pardoning the Rogues to go vomit in a restroom.

“Heck, I’m afraid of Captain fucking America.”

And that was a small, small part of the pathetically long list he had. Still, it was enough for the kid to pretty much dash through the room to hug him, apparently. He hovered uncertainly for an awkward second before wrapping his arms around the smaller boy. 

Peter squeezed his waist tighter, and basically burrowed his face into the billionaire’s chest. Tony just let his hands steady the back of the teen, not sure what else to do. Finally he settled for resting his head on the crown of brown curls though, burrowing his face in the chaos that was Peter Parker’s hair. 

After what felt like an eternity, but probably wasn’t more than twenty seconds, he could feel Peter pull away, and he found himself missing the sensation of having the boy in his arms. Peter looked up at him, all serious and certain, and simply said, 

“Thanks.”

One of Tony’s eyebrows shot up into his hairline. 

“For what?” 

He said, incredulous. Peter smiled. 

“For sharing this. It... I think it made it easier to accept having fears... and weaknesses, even if I have superpowers.” 

Peter smirked then, and Tony would swear to god it looked as mischievous as the devil himself. Or kind of like Loki.

“I know everything personal makes you wanna die.” 

Well, wasn’t that the understatement of the year. Tony snorted, and ruffled Peter’s messy curls. “Ain’t you a little shit,” he mumbled under his breath, knowing that Peter would hear just fine with his enhanced senses. 

Now it was Peter’s turn to snort. 

“So, want to watch a movie?”

The kid nodded, and the two made their way to the living room and the gigantic television in there. 

“What do you want to see?” 

“Well, I’d say Star Wars but if you...” 

“I’m fine, it’ll be good therapy. You can hold my hand if it gets to scary.” 

Tony said that last part with a healthy layer of sarcasm, a smirk and a wink, but let it never be said he wasn’t thankful as Peter placed a small hand over his, leaning into him and resting a head on his shoulder as a fight between two spaceships occurred.

**Author's Note:**

> So, did you like it? Yes? You’re welcome to leave a comment and kudos!   
> No? That’s fine, but please dont leave any negative comments! 
> 
> Maybe I’ll make the broken glass thing thing into a story, I don’t know. Or maybe the Incident With The Apple? 
> 
> Thank you for your time, hope I’ll see you again in my next post!


End file.
